Turkey’s
YouTube ban is being challenged by an internet rights group on the grounds that the block discriminates against millions of web users in the country.

Turkey’s YouTube ban is just not on, say web rights champions

The Google-owned video-sharing site was taken down in 2007 in response to a clip that featured derogatory comments about Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.

According to the Internet Technologies Association, the ban forms part of a creeping cyber censorship that started as a crackdown on child pornography, suicide, drug use and prostitution.

A government office was even created with the authority to shut down websites without the need for a court order.

The organisation’s legal challenge addresses not only the YouTube ban but a wider block of Google services – including Google Analytics, the search giant’s web analytics package.

‘It’s an infringement on our fundamental human rights, the freedom of conversations and our right to information,’ Yaman Akdeniz, associate law professor at Istanbul Bilgi University, remarked to the Guardian of the Google block.

‘Some people call us Ataturk-haters because we want YouTube to be accessible in Turkey,’ he added.

‘But things need to change here.’

Last month, Turkish president Abdullah Gul used Twitter to criticise his country’s ban on YouTube and other Google services.

‘I know there are lots of complaints about bans on YouTube and Google,’ he tweeted.’I am definitely against them being closed down. I have ordered responsible institutions for a solution. I asked for a change in regulations on merit.’